The tour was average. Gino was our driver and guide. He's fine, but he's ok but he can be such a perfectionist. Please inform us at the beginning of the journey if we are not permitted to use the restroom on the bus. The restroom was used by two passengers, and Gino is irate. He keeps saying that it's just for emergencies. What is an emergency, exactly? Isn't going to the bathroom an emergency? Unless he wants us to pee on the seats on his bus?
Also, perhaps as a result of the broken bus door, the first portion of the excursion was chilly. The door was not properly shut, allowing outside wind to enter as the bus drives off. The bus door vigorously trembles as it drives along as if it were about to come off. He had to hear from a passenger that the bus is cold before attempting to fix the door. But the bus door was simply not shut correctly the entire trip. Gino was also extremely picky about the garbage we were tossing. We can't just throw stuff away since some trash needs to go in its own bin.
In addition, Gino never stops chatting. While some of the things he stated were intriguing, it can grow tiring to listen to him babble nonstop, and most of the time I simply could not understand what he was saying because of his consistently broken microphone or his thick accent. His jokes were also not funny. Maybe 1 or 2 but most of the time I would rather have him quiet. It would be nice to have some silence while we enjoy the view.
The tour was also rather hurried because you only get around 10 or 15 minutes at each stop, despite the breathtaking view. Gino simply slowed down the bus while we snapped pictures because there are some spots where we are not permitted to stop. You can forget about shooting pictures if you sit on the left side of the bus. (Therefore, seat to the right.)
Extremely disappointing, the Sequoias. Gino simply tells us that the trek down will take 16 minutes and the hike back up will take 20 minutes longer (majestic tree, but we literally only see one). The majority of us only congregated at one location where a sequio tree was, despite the fact that there was another route that would have led us to the sequoia tunnel tree. Gino being our guide should have given us tips on what exactly we should see in sequios. But this place was the most rushed and honestly not worth paying to be rushed.
Additionally, we had two to three hours of free time in Yosemite Park during which no recommendations for what to do were made. We were just given maps and told to come back at the stated time. We used Google Map to find great, intriguing areas to explore on our own because we were a little lost.
Heads up, he explained tipping to us at the end of the tour saying that it is customary and even had a sign pasted in the bus about tipping 20% being customary. It's as though he was forcing us indirectly to tip and the moment he mentioned it, it feels like he was not generous at all throughout the entire trip being our supposedly "guide". Don’t tip because you are not obligated to do so unless you really want to.
Don't get me wrong; Yosemite was beautiful to see. But it was simply rushed. This will work well if you enjoy short quick trips like this (snap a picture once and go), but if you prefer to observe nature and be in awe of it, this won't cut it.
Réponse de l'hôte
Oct 2022
We are saddened to hear that Gino did not enhance your tour to beautiful Yosemite Valley. Your comments are helpful and we will address all of the issues you point out. Please call Guest Services @ (415) 357-0700 to discuss our Satisfaction Guarantee. Again, we are sorry that your experience was not up to tour standard.